“Did you get to see Pico Iyer when he was here for the Seattle Arts and Lectures program in January? I’m sorry to say that I missed his talk but, fortunately, I can grab a copy of his new book, The Man Within My Head, off the Front Table instead. Using his life-long fascination with Graham Greene (himself a favorite with the travel literature reading crowd around here) as a lens, Iyer examines the themes of his own life. Greene’s British public school upbringing and roaming lifestyle echo Iyer’s own, especially his perennial preoccupation with being the outsider wherever he finds himself. As he analyzes the similarities, he comes to the conclusion that the man he is really preoccupied with is his father who left India to move to England and then California. As usual, the reviewers are using phrases like ‘beautifully contoured sentences’ and ‘wonderful wordsmith’ to describe the author’s always fantastic writing. Highly recommended.”—Wide World Books & Maps, Seattle. Buy The Man Within My Head from your local indie.
Face Out
The Man Within My Head by Pico Iyer
March 29, 2012